Waste oil, including used motor oil, is a hazardous waste product. It contains high concentrations of such things as heavy metals and organic substances and pollutants. Waste oil is an incredibly toxic material. Illegal dumping is a constant concern as, when waste oil enters the aquifer, it contaminates the drinking water. One option to prevent this from occurring across the United States in places such as Grand Rapids, MI, is to encourage waste oil recycling.
What Is Recycling Waste Oil?
Recycling used and dirty waste oil is the opposite of using it as a weed killer, leaving it lying around the garage or even dumping it in roadside ditches or in an abandoned field or area. Recycling is compiling the waste product in an appropriate container before taking it to a facility that will reclaim (not quite recycle) or recycle it. Depending upon the facility, the oil will be processed there or it may be removed to a recycling plant that specializes in turning waste oil into a viable product.
Recycling does not mean burning the waste oil directly as fuel. It will be re-refined and placed back into the system as clean used oil. This will reduce the amount of “new” oil required. Indeed, this is one of several benefits from waste oil recycling.
Environmental and Other Benefits
Supporting the recycling of waste oil is currently an important issue worldwide. Industrial countries in particular are feeling the need to employ this strategy for two major reasons:
- Prolong oil resources
- Lower production and related expenses
In other words, energy resource extractors, refiners and other related companies find it necessary in places such as Grand Rapids, to recycle oil products for the following aims:
- Cost-effective method over disposal of the products e.g. incineration or some reclaiming processes
- Re-refining actually uses less energy and oil than the initial refining process. Specifically producing a high-quality lubricant oil for vehicles requires 42 gallons of crude oil compared to a single gallon of used motor oil
- Prevents the incidence of environmental contamination and degradation
- Can be profitable for recycling companies
- Helps individuals discover that recycling is the only way a planet can retain its oil mentality while decreasing its environmental footprint
These are the benefits of gathering waste oil for recycling. It does not matter whether you do so as an individual car owner or as part of an auto shop or manufacturing facility.
Waste Oil Recycling
Used oil too often ends up in areas where it had no right to be. The disposal methods are all wrong. They pollute the environment and put the people who live in it at risk. Yet, increasingly companies in cities such as Grand Rapids are discovering that not only is waste oil recycling beneficial for the environment, it can also be profitable for the companies that perform it and those who use the re-refined product.